To be honest – online working can be messy! Millions of to-do lists, messages everywhere… It’s easy to get lost between what is done and what needs to be done. I’ve been there. Well, I am still there from time to time. That’s why I know how you’re feeling – and wanted to help you by sharing my favorite online tools for better productivity.
It is said that there is no substitute for hard work. And that is a great truth. But it has certainly happened to you countless times, that you work extremely hard on a project but you do not see any progress or a certain benefit from so much work. The reason for that lies in investing effort in the wrong direction.
To have effective time management or time management at all, you need to become more organized. Smartly planned commitments are half the job. With good organization, you save time, reduce stress, increase your efficiency, and reduce possible mistakes.
First things first – you should become aware of your distractors! Frequent checking of social networks, quick browsing of news on portals, and correspondence via messenger apps are not helpful activities. It is good to switch off until you have completed the task.
And now let’s move on to the online tools for better productivity. Which one should you use to be more efficient? Try them and see what works for you and what is not. In combination, they can offer a different approach to your tasks and cooperation within the team, but by choosing even one of them, you will already gain a better organization.
My Favorite Online Tools For Better Productivity
Slack
If you are looking for an excellent and well-organized tool to chat with your teammates – Slack should be your first choice! I was happy when I realized how easy it is to use, has a simple and practical interface and it’s pretty intuitive for new users. Thematically organized chat rooms, private groups, and an option for instant messaging are the charms of this tool. If you don’t like Slack, you can try Discord – also a very good one.
Asana – project management tool
As I already mentioned, we’re all, at least sometimes a little lost in our own tasks and daily responsibilities, aren’t we? That should not be a problem, because Asana makes it easier for us to organize, coordinate, and balance business and private commitments, and make time management easier. It helps us stay focused on goals and planned projects, for example – your online visibility plan. I’m using it to create tasks, projects, conversations, and dashboards and diagrams, and to coordinate meetings and plan campaigns as well. You can also check Trello if Asana looks too complicated for you. But – everyone needs to have a project management tool!
Zoom – meetings and webinars
When talking about Zoom, what attracted me the most was its super good and safe connection, with the possibility to permanently record the entire meeting and listen to it for as long as I need it. And you can send it to participants so they can use it too! Another thing which I absolutely love about Zoom is that you simply can share the screen and easily do any presentation. This application gained special popularity at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues today. Since the movement of people is limited in the conditions of the epidemic, there is a need for long-distance communication, which the Zoom application enables very well.
Google Drive
It’s not necessary to mention the useful sides of Google Drive – I am sure that everyone uses it for at least one purpose. In my case, besides storing documents, photos, music, videos, and all in one place, there is another important thing. What is also really helpful is that I can use it to quickly edit all my documents online! This tool helps me bring all stuff with me, anytime, wherever I go. (Using it prevents the „I forgot to bring my USB memory“ situation!). Storing and sorting files is also simple and does not require much time.
Did you know that up to 50 people can work on a single document stored in Google Drive at the same time? They can open and edit documents online via the free Google Drive app, even if they don’t have access to MS Office tools.
Precision to get things done, deadlines, pressures for higher productivity are just some of the daily subtasks that draw too much energy and subconsciously distract us from our current job and goals. We all strive to improve our professional life, and we need to equip ourselves with adequate digital tools.
Using these tools increases productivity because they help you be efficient, not overworked. Try it!
Do you have your favorite online tools for better productivity? Share it with me!